ANIMALS. 497 



CHAP. II. 



OF THE ASS. 



Although this animal is very easily distinguished from thi 

 horse at first sight, yet upon a closer inspection, the similitude 



of D. Rolle, Esq. of Torriiigton, in Devoushire. A baronet, one of whuse 

 liririters had never tired in the longest chase, once encouraged the criief 

 t!:i)ught of attempting completely to fatigue him. After a long chase he 

 dined, and again mounting, rode him furiously among the hills ; when brought 

 to the st&ble his strength appeared exhausted, and he nas scarcely able to 

 walk. The groom, possessed of more feeling than his brutal master, could 

 not refrain from tears at the sight of so noble an auiinal thus sunk down. 

 The baronet some time after entered the stable, and the horse made a furious 

 spring upon him, and had not the groom interfered, would soon have put it 

 out of his power of ever again misusing his animals. 



The barbarous custom of docking the tails and cutting the ears of horses, 

 is in this country very prevalent. The former, however, principally with 

 waggon horses, under the pretence that a bushy tail collects the dirt of the 

 riiads ; and the latter from the notion that they are rendered more eleganj 

 in their appearance. Thus, from ideal necessity, we deprive them of two 

 parts of the body principally instrumental, not only to their own ease and 

 comfort, but in their utility to us. By taking away their cars, the fuunels 

 are destroyed which they always direct to the place from whence any sound 

 is heard, and they are thus rendered nearly deaf. And in the loss of their 

 tail, they find even a still greater inconvenience. During summer they are 

 perpetually teased with swarms of insects, that either attempt to suck their 

 blood, or to deposit their eggs in the rectum, which they have nnw no 

 means of lashing off; and in winter they are deprived of a necessary pro. 

 tection against the cold. 



But of all others, the custom that we have adopted 'for it is found in no 

 other nation than this) of nicking them, is the most usdess and absurd. It 

 is a most affecting sight to go into the stable of an eminent horse dealer, and 

 there behold a range of fine and beautiful steeds with their tails cut and 

 slashed, tied up by pulleys to give them force, suffering such torture, that 

 they sometimes never recover the savage gashes they have received. And 

 for what is all this done ? That they may hold their tails somewhat higher 

 than they otherwise would, and be for ever after deprived of the power of 

 moving the .joints of them as a defence against flies ! 



Another abuse may be noticed, observable in those who shoe horses. Thti 

 stupid blacksmith, in order to save himself a little trouble, will frequenly 

 apply the shoe red hot to the horse's foot, in order that it may burn for itself a 

 bed in the hoof, and fit it for its reception. " 'J'he utmost severity (says Lord 



1 Many parts of this account are extracted from Daubenton and Buffoa ; 

 uhich I mention here, to avoid troubling the reader with a multiplicity of 

 quotations. 



2x3 



